Phil Woodruff

After first studying Geology and enjoying the fieldwork and the research I did. I left the academic world to quickly discover my skills and passion were actually working with people, especially children.

I initially tried to merge these two areas and was a field studies instructor at an outdoors centre, then went on to train and teach at Secondary level but realized that formal teaching wasn’t for me.

I became a Community Play Ranger (CPR) not understanding ‘Play’ or ‘Playwork’. I initially just went out with a bootload of looseparts, sports things and fire equipment and let the children have fun playing outdoors.

It wasn’t long before I was blown away by Play - a whole facet of human existence that I hadn’t explored or understood before. I was soon engrossed in the theories and the practice. My outlook on children’s lives and development has now radically changed largely down to the experience of doing a Playwork level 3 NVQ with Meynell. Alongside this I have now completed my first couple of years of training in Play Therapy and am fascinated by how these two worlds interrelate.

As a CPR I provided open access play sessions in all weathers, all year round across different parks and estates in Bath. I have run sessions in infants, juniors, mainstream and special schools. One of my favorite aspects of being a Play Ranger was running the street play sessions by blocks of flats in central Bath and seeing how Play transforms communities.

playphil@live.co.uk

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